And of COVID-19 too, probably. Uh… well done COVID-19? I guess?
I wasn’t around when Peter Sutcliffe comitted his crimes but I was around for another “ripper” case, the Ipswich one, and I can remember the fear and sadness in the news. Man, we have to stop giving these guys nicknames, seriously, knock it the hell off. Also, it’s taken this long for the police to apologise for the language they used to describe Sutcliffe’s victims, wow.
A absolutely wonderful Twitter thread sprung up a couple days ago, just as it was coming out how many Tories had voted for children to go hungry. Observe:
Hungry hog. 🦔 They still need feeding, so do still put out dried kitten food or wet or dry dog food. pic.twitter.com/Z2HJ30k8cv
You probably shouldn’t actually put food out for hedgehogs. My family did just that once and the poor hedgehogs just fell in the nearby fish pond and drowned. Bless ’em, they’re not smart animals. Though probably smarter than Nadine Dorries.
Absolutely nothing will come of this of course. Philip Davis appears to frequently vote against children, women and carers. But here you go. A man who deserves to be condemned not just for his opinions but his actual actions.
Nicky Morgan: Maybe we would have voted to give kids Free School Meals if a labour MP hadn't called us Tory scum.@bphillipsonMP: So kids will go hungry this Christmas because you don't like the parliamentary process?#BBCqtpic.twitter.com/UnOmCkzcHs
If you want more context, try here and here. There are clearly decent people in the country, like Marcus Rashford… but the government on the other hand-
There was a frickin’ EARTHQUAKE in my home town this morning! (someone I know is actually quoted in that article.) No reports of any damage but my brother said everyone piled out into the street to see what the hell had happened.
As for me, a car alarm started going off at around that time in Leicester, waking me up… connected maybe… or not…
One. The BBC are apparently removing “Land of Hope and Glory” and “Rule Britannia” from their annual Proms show (though they’re still playing the instrumental versions.)
Two. In Glasgow a woman called Mercy Baguma was found dead in her flat next to her malnourished baby. She was an asylum seeker and not allowed to work.
Guess which one Boris Johnson is more angry about. Go on, guess.
So if you’re not in the UK I don’t know if you’ll have heard about this, but: put simply, since no-one could sit exams this year for obvious reasons, the government created an algorithm which would assign grades based on mostly the past performance of the school. So doesn’t matter if you’re a A* student, if you go to an underprivileged school you’re screwed. There go your plans for the future.
“I wanted to make everyone that believed in me proud… I knew I could get those grades if I actually did the exams.”
Mithushan Thiagarajah had an offer to read medicine at Cambridge and was predicted 4 A*s. Today he was downgraded and the offer has been withdrawn.#Newsnightpic.twitter.com/40l2x9o7sX
So..my neighbour got a predicted A from her teacher, B in her mock…and was given an E. A kid from the private school on the next road got a C in her mock, a predicted B and was awarded an A*. Just…? Kids..you'll be of voting age in the next general election. Remember.
And yet kids in private schools have been given a massive and very unfair advantage. This is not to say some of them couldn’t have achieved A* grades themselves but essentially now they have them just because they’re rich.
Conservatives: The world should revolve around individual responsibility! It's all about the individual, independent efforts! Work hard!
Also Conservatives: Here's an algorithm which grades you based on Postcode and ignores your independent abilities.
Most A-level students at the pass/fail borderline won't have the platforms to plead their cases. And soon they won't be able to go wherever they like in the EU and start something new. They are stuck in the UK, under a Government that has contempt for them. It's devastating.
It's the U grades that really get me. My sister wrote an essay about how much she hated her media studies teacher for an exam in the 2000s and still didn't get a U. The lowest any child should have got this year is an E, you can't award 'ungraded' to an exam that didn't happen!
The more I think about it, the idea of curtailing prospects of young people on the basis of what other young people at their school achieved in the past, is the most obscene thing this government has done. Anti-aspiration, anti-social-mobility, get-back-in-your-box bullshit.
People are furious which is good. Even the British newspapers have finally gotten off their arses long enough to condemn the situation. Things have to be really bad for that to happen.
(fun fact I learned the other day: the British press is considered one of the worst in the world! Well go look up the Sun or the Daily Star and you’ll see why pretty quick.)
Luckily there are some people (including my old university!) who are willing to help, so here’s a list of the ones I’ve found so far.
We’re looking for students affected by A-Levels fiasco
If you (or your child) have lost a uni offer due to downgrading, or if you didn’t plan to go to uni but your career prospects have been harmed, pls get in touch with gemma@goodlawproject.org
We are dedicating £5,000 to Black young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds looking to appeal their A Level results and cannot do so due to financial implications. If you are/work with young people experiencing this, please contact us on blackticketproject@gmail.com.
I am horrified by the A-level fiasco and would like to help in a small way, if I can. If you know a student who didn’t get what they needed for a creative writing BA and intends to take a year out, do please let them know I would like to take someone under my wing. Sarah xxx pic.twitter.com/rc7CakixTs
"Universities must do what we can to give A-Level students something back". We're offering places based on mock A-level results as well as published results, whichever is higher, regardless of whether you decide to appeal or wait for appeal outcomes.
A statement from our Interim Vice-Chancellor: “We want to support A-level students all we can, so we are making verbal offers now based on mock exam results and we’ll hold places, dependent on the successful outcome of any appeals.” ➡️https://t.co/6Yj2eBoy8B⬅️ #AlevelResultspic.twitter.com/1rwCUpL3CS
Last night I woke up to hear absolutely thundering rain, it went on for ages and ages. It was all over Britain I heard. Unfortunately it seems like it caused a landslide and that caused a train to derail and crash. “Only” three people were killed but man, what an incredibly sad and awful thing to happen. I’ve seen people on Twitter pointing out that if not for the pandemic and lockdown the train might have been full and the death toll much higher, which is… I honestly don’t know how to feel about that.
An MP has called for a “system change” after she was stopped by police while travelling in a car in east London.
Former shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler accused the Met Police of racial profiling after the stop on Sunday.
Labour MP Ms Butler told BBC Breakfast she had agreed to meet local police commanders to discuss “taking the bias out of the system”.
The Met said the stop was a mistake caused by an officer incorrectly entering the car’s registration number.
Ms Butler said it had been 20 years since the Macpherson Report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, which described the Met Police as “institutionally racist”.
“It’s about time we changed the system so it works for everyone and it’s effective,” she said.
